New Year's Eve.

While Christmas Eve is a family celebration, New Year’s Eve (called Nochevieja in Spanish) is a time for partying with friends. It is a night for throwing fiestas called “cotillones” or for gathering in town squares under the old clock tower waiting in anxious anticipation for it to strike twelve. According to tradition, observers must wolf down 12 grapes at this time to guarantee good fortune for the New Year. Afterward, excited revelers often offer toasts to the New Year with glasses of cava. The festive spirit continues until the wee hours of the early morning and January 1^st is a day of rest for those who have partied away the last night of the old year.

Carla Crespo 4th